Jump!
by eliska
Summary: At age twelve, Shizuo Heiwajima meets the Orihara twins for the first time. Slight AU.


**A/N:** As per usual, I have no idea how to step into a new fandom without writing absurdly out-of-place kid!character stories. I should also apologize for not actually knowing how to write Kururi's unusual … speech patterns because I've never actually read the novels in English. (Also cue really horrible tense switching! Darn this language for having tenses.) The twins are also aged up a bit here, making this a slight AU, since they would be logically two years old in canonical timeline and _that's_ no fun to write.

Please enjoy and constructive criticism would be much appreciated!

* * *

The first time he met them he was twelve, caught in the middle of strange emotions and hormonal rage that was to bubble up in time. But none of that mattered, not yet.

Kasuka had been at a friend's that day, and his parents were out on a visit to his grandparents'. It'd been a hazy Saturday morning with wildflowers poking out from road-cracks and the smell of summer lingering temptingly in the air, and he had stopped to wonder where the birds were chirping from. There weren't many people who lived on that street whom he interacted with; actually, the amount of childhood friends he retained throughout the years remained at single-digits. That of course was a distinction held by no other than Shinra Kishitani, but he was out on a trip with his father today. Presumably to the hospital, the young boy had thought with a sigh. Even though the bespectacled lad was oftentimes something of a nuisance some company was better than no company at all.

Shizuo had only taken a few steps towards the park (he was in a jump-roping mood that day, and maybe some ice cream later) when the wailing began. The distinctive sound of young girls in distress. He could not fathom _why_ there should be such voices within the vicinity, as there were no young girls living in that particular neighborhood. All of them had moved out throughout the years, perhaps due to his volatile nature, and none of their parents had wanted anything to do with such a violent boy who might wind up beating their daughters to senseless pulps (which was not something Shizuo would in a million years bring himself to do willingly, but the image of the sweet girl in the flower shop still haunted him enough that he, sadly, believed this to be true.)

He had therefore dropped his bag out of — was it curiosity? Fear? — and raced towards the source of the sound, heart pounding and wondering if there would be another bloody mess for him to witness. By the time he reached the bend he was holding his breath for the worst; was it theft? Murder? Was this a trap? Were there really any girls waiting to be saved, or was it just his overworked imagination? But what awaited him was something entirely unexpected for such a situation.

There were two girls (friends? sisters? he thought with some confusion) beneath neighborhood banyan tree, clapping their hands happily as they jumped up and down on a trampoline someone had set up there. Shizuo quickly retraced his steps and hid behind the fence, unsure of what to do. It seemed foolish now to suddenly appear if there was nothing wrong — but who were they? The girls could not have been more than six or seven years old, and he had never seen them before. One had long hair in a messy braid, and the other one had a short, boyish cut. The long-haired girl seemed to be chattering on about something as she pushed the other one down, laughing and shrieking as they bounced off the trampoline tumbled to the ground. Biting his lip, the boy boldly started to walk towards them.

"A…are you guys alright?" At this distance, he could see that they were clearly related — twins, probably. Their clothes were a mess, splattered with dirt and leaves.

The short-haired girl looked up at him first, blinking in slight surprise. "…Yes…"

"We were just playing!" The other one chirped brightly, scrambling off her sister. She looked at him curiously, cocking her head to one side. "And who are _you_? I've never seen you before!"

For a moment Shizuo didn't know how to react, and instead opened and closed his mouth, flabbergasted, like a fish out of water. He barely talked to girls his age, much less younger ones like these two. "I…you guys don't live here, do you?"

"You look so funny like that!" She giggled, nudging her sister. "Don't you think so, Kururi?"

"…Not…nice…" But there was a definite trace of a smile on the short-haired girl's face as well. Shizuo scratched his head, flushing red at the accusations. It was certainly embarrassing — but he couldn't bring himself to get terribly mad. After all, they were even younger than his brother, and didn't really seem to mean any harm. "We…not…from here. Your…name…?"

"I-I'm Shizuo," he blurted out without thinking. The girls nodded, seeming to take that in nonchalantly. So they _didn't_ know about him, he thought, and a small bubble of relief appeared in his mind. He glanced at the girl named Kururi. "Do you always talk like that?"

"She's just shy!" The braided girl giggled again, poking at her sister delightfully. She held out a small hand. "I'm Mairu, and this is Kururi!"

"Oh." _Oh_. Was that the only thing he could say? Shizuo shook her hand awkwardly, unsure of what he should continue the sentence with. He just didn't get girls, not really; and definitely not ones who seemed to be laughing at him one moment and smiling at him sweetly the next. "So you're…sisters?"

Kururi nodded definitively. "…Twins…"

"I have a brother," Shizuo added, a bit sheepishly. "He's … he's called Kasuka. He's not here right now, though."

"Oh?" Twirling her almost-undone hair around her fingers, Mairu gave him a smile that was almost sly. "Maybe you can bring him next time! We're not from this neighborhood, after all, and new friends would — "

Kururi cut in. "Miss Fujimoto … babysits …"

"As if we need babysitting!" Her sister made a face. It made the boy smile, a little; he remembered his own days of being babysat, and having done the same for his brother. Those memories weren't always pleasant (particularly after the fridge incident — or at least, that singular memory had tampered with all the other ones), but at the very least it gave him something to talk about when there was nothing else he could dig through his head to bring up.

"Oh yeah, that's … not so great," he replied, shrugging. "I mean … at least she isn't too bad — "

"Hey! Isn't that Shizuo Heiwajima?" Upon hearing his name the boy started, looking behind him to see a group of seventh-graders pointing at him. "Hah, see him talking to little girls! Hey, you there! Better run away before he beats you up!"

"Shut — the hell — up — !" The twins quickly scrambled out of his way, eyes wide as they watched what happened next. Grabbing the nearest trash can, Shizuo yelled back at them while tossing the hunk of metal like a grenade into the crowd. It immediately knocked two of them down onto the sidewalk. "Don't make me — angry — !"

The remainder of the bullies visibly gulped, backing up even as they continued jeering at him. "Y-you can't get all of us!"

"Aaaargh!" Shizuo charged at them threateningly and reached for the nearest stop sign despite a throbbing pain that was already starting to form. They all leaped out of the way before he could do any further damage, dispersing as quickly as they came. He dropped his hand, panting, and suddenly the realization that he wasn't quite alone came over him. A sense of dread filled the young boy as he turned around; the girls would have been long gone by then, he thought glumly — no girl had ever continued to talk to him after witnessing one of his episodes.

To his surprise, the twins were still _there_ — sitting on the bench now and looking at him with even more interest than before, yes, but they _hadn't_ run off in fright. Shizuo approached them carefully, looking for any sign of fear—_wrongness_. Mairu was the first one to speak, and there was no mistaking the glee in her voice. "That was amazing! How did you do that?"

"Trashcan…" Kururi stared at the spot where said object had been, and curled up beside her sister.

"It…don't think too much about it…" Tentatively he sat down next to them. Neither flinched; Mairu even moved closer to him, grabbing his hand with all the tenacity of a young child. He stared at her, startled, as she ran her own hands over his arm. "W-what are you doing?"

"I just want to know how you're so strong!" She laughed, letting go quickly. Looking over her shoulder, Kururi gave small nod of agreement. "It's neat!"

"You…aren't scared?"

"Why would we be?" This time both gave small chuckles. "It's exciting! And you're not hitting _us_. Those boys were the bad guys, no?"

"…" Sooner or later the truth would catch up to them. Shizuo sighed, rubbing his temple; all he ever wanted was normalcy but now it seemed that this curse of power would never let him go. Even as he talked to girls who were barely elementary-school age, it seemed — although they seemed to be taking all of this in unusual stride. Was this _normal_, to them? "…You really think so?"

"Yep!" She jumped down from the bench, stretching her arms. "It's really cool! But well, we have to go now! See you later, Shizuo-kun~"

"…Bye…" Kururi crawled off the bench, following her sister with much less gusto. She gave him a little wave.

"Wait, why?"

"It's lunchtime! Aren't you hungry?" Mairu watched his expression change from one of bewilderment to slight understanding as it dawned upon him what time it was. "We'll be here next week, though! Bye-bye!"

She skipped off across the street, humming a little tune Shizuo did not recognize; Kururi was more careful, and looked both ways for oncoming vehicles before crossing. They waved at him one last time, together, from the other side before disappearing beyond the bend. He returned the gesture, a little surprised, a little disappointed. The walk homeward consisted of furtive glances over his shoulder for any signs of those nuisances. Trust those troublemakers to destroy his one chance of having a normal conversation with the opposite sex, no matter how innocent the topic – even though, _this_ parting wasn't _their_ fault. Not really. He bit his lip, trying to keep the anger from bubbling up inside.

But they _would_ be here next week; Mairu had said so. Balled fists came loose as he started walking a little faster, wondering perhaps if, if Kasuka would come with him, next Saturday —

It was then, when Shizuo reached the jump-ropes lying right outside his door, that he realized he hadn't even gotten their last names.

* * *

End.

* * *

{ Omake: Several weeks later. }

"We have a brother too, you know!"

"Oh?"

"Twelve…"

"What she means is, he's your age! He's such an ass, though."

"That isn't very nice, Mairu-chan." Shizuo couldn't help but wonder, though, how bad this certain brother had to be to warrant the title of 'ass' from a six-year-old.

"Well he isn't very nice to us, either!"

"…" Kururi licked at her ice cream cone quietly, ignoring the conversation at hand.

"I mean, really!"

"Oh…"

"But I bet Kasuka-kun is different! Why won't he come with you though, Shizuo-kun?"

"Ah, he … he has things to do —"

"Aww … next week, then!"

And so he sat there, on the small bench beneath the banyan tree and listened to Mairu complain and Kururi nod, as summer receded into fall and fall began his middle school years that would expose him to whole new adventures and a continuing acquaintanceship with those two young girls that would lead to a surprising revelation as a certain Orihara Izaya would seem to magically spring into his life quite rudely during those later turbulent high school years.

But that is a story for another day.


End file.
